The only real way to measure a degradation of morals is by measuring crime, because unlike two people of the same sex exchanging marriage vows or a pop-star's errant breast, it actually harms people in a tangible way. Conservatives waste precious time criticizing the corrupting influence of violent video games, when poverty and desperation are the true causes of crime. When poor inner city kids that haven't been given a chance see criminals making more money than law-abiding citizens, crime will obviously seem like a tempting option. However, any attempt to alleviate this with anti-poverty programs would generate howls of indignation from Conservative politicians. Conservatives are just as bad on punishing crime as they are on preventing it. Even though cigarettes kill hundreds of thousands of people a year, Conservatives insist on wasting vast amounts of time and money on cracking down on marijuana, a drug with no proven deaths. They're creating artificial crime! Also, Conservatives tend to favor jail time to rehabilitation for illegal drug users, even though the former costs about $25,000 a year and doesn't get to the root of the problem, and the latter costs around $3,000 a year and actually focuses on the addiction itself. Conservatism is an ideology big on condemnation and punishment, but often lacking in understanding and empathy.